


my judgement burned in the black of night

by writtenndust



Series: Learn Me Right [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Mention of Betty Ross, Mention of Bruce Banner/Betty Ross, Mention of Jane Foster, Mention of Jane Foster/Thor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-12 06:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writtenndust/pseuds/writtenndust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not a whole month left until Pepper's due-date and the Avengers team have reached an almost comfortable level of domesticity; almost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	my judgement burned in the black of night

“So are you guys gonna find out what it is?” Bruce muttered conversationally and Tony looked up from the holographic blue-prints he was fiddling with; knowing exactly what Bruce was referring to. He studied him for a moment; the man’s glasses were rested on the tip of his nose and while his eyes were buried in the thick reference book he had sprawled out on the work-top, Tony knew he wasn’t reading a single word.

“Yeah,” He nodded. “It’s a girl.”

“A girl,” Bruce smiled briefly, glancing up. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah, Pepper’s pretty excited,” Tony studied the other man intently, searching for any sign of the reason Bruce, of all people, had brought up that particular line of conversation. “I think she bought out an entire baby store.”

“Well, she’s only got about two months left, right?”

“Less than one.” Tony corrected quickly, shrugging his shoulders innocently when Bruce gave him a smirk. It wasn’t like he was counting or anything. Tony cleared his throat. “You ever thought about-” 

Bruce cut him off. “No.”

“You’d be good at it, you know.”

Bruce hesitated, pushing the book aside and pulling his glasses off. He twisted them between his fingers as he chewed on his lower lip and Tony watched him closely; his work too, was forgotten. “I couldn’t do that to a kid. You know?” He looked Tony in the eye and there was a mutual understanding as Tony slowly nodded his head, his eyes wide. “There’s no way of knowing what I’d pass on.”

“I’m sorry,”

“Hey,” Bruce smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “No sense in crying over it now.”

“Did you ever want it?”

Bruce looked thoughtful for a moment, staring off to the far end of the lab where smaller versions of Tony’s robots Dum-E and Butterfingers, where pottering around one of the work-benches. He chuckled sardonically, watching the two of them bump and get in each other’s way, personifying Tony’s inherent need to create some small amount of chaos even while the man himself was sitting across from him, straight-backed and serious.

“Yeah,” He breathed out the word, hoarse and scratchy. “A while back, before my-“ He met Tony’s eye again. “-accident. There was someone I thought I could have married.”

“Betty?”

Bruce’s eyes flashed surprise for a second before he cleared his throat and looked away again.

“Sorry, Fury told me.”

“Yeah, well, there’s no chance of that now.”

Tony pondered for a moment, twisting a pen in his fingers as he alternated between looking at his friend and looking at the floor. Bruce was his friend, more honestly than many had been before; save Rhodey and Pepper. The man was mild-mannered, kind, rational; he had so many attributes Tony had never been able to ascribe to himself. With only one draw-back; but he was learning to control it each and every day.

“Look, I’ve talked it over with Pepper,” Tony chuckled, still looking at the floor. “And and I’ll be honest with you, I really didn’t expect her to agree with me so fast and we can blame it on hormones or whatever; point is, she agreed with me.” He looked up to see Bruce watching him, waiting on the punch-line. “I was going to wait, but,” He straightened his back, puffed out his chest and grinned broadly. “Pepper and I wanted to ask you to be the baby’s godfather.”

“Tony, I...”

“Well, it was my idea, but the point is, Pepper thought it was a great idea!” He held his arms out wide, excitedly grinning at the be-speckled man who looked as confused as he was shocked.

Bruce shook his head slowly. “Tony I can’t.” 

Tony rolled across the room on his stool, sidling up beside Bruce who sat perched at the other bench, his elbow resting on it as if the life had just drained out of his body. Tony looked up at him, smiling a characteristic smile as Bruce shifted; dropping his elbows both to the counter-top and scrubbing his face with his hands.

“Sure you can.”

“You don’t want me.”

“Ah, didn’t I just say I did.” Tony made a face of mock-confusion and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“It’s a bad idea.”

“No, it’s not; I have it on very good authority, albeit biased authority, that Pepper’s never wrong. And she agreed!”

“You’re both insane.” Bruce tried to get up and walk away but Tony grabbed his arm, pulling him back around to face him and Bruce startled. He’d only a few times before, seen that level of seriousness in Tony Stark’s eyes.

“This isn’t a joke, Banner.” Tony said sternly. “Look, I didn’t ask you as some grand gesture of friendship.” Tony loosened his grip on Bruce’s arm. “This isn’t for pity.” He lowered his voice. “I asked you because you’re my friend.” Bruce looked away but Tony’s voice drew him back. “I asked you because I trust you. Not just with my life but with Pepper.” Bruce swallowed as Tony added his final point. “I trust you with my daughter.”

“I’ll...” Bruce hesitated, turning his back toward Tony. “...I’ll think about it, alright.”

**

Pepper finally had a chance to put her feet up. She’d been wandering back and forth to the lab all day, taking food to Tony and Bruce, insisting that they leave the room for fresh air, etc. Tony had come up to her a handful of times, making sure she’d eaten, was resting, was drinking enough water and all that. Just a few minutes ago he’d appeared from behind, wrapped his arms around her shoulders over the back of the couch, kissed her temple and placed a small plate of jelly donuts on the couch cushion beside her. 

She’d declared him the most fabulous man on earth and ushered him back to the lab with a wave of her wrist, insisting that she was fine in the company of her jelly-donuts and Meryl Streep. When he disappeared, she pulled the small plate up to rest on her rounded belly and hit the play button on the remote control. 

She had to admit, being the boss had its perks; and she made a mental note to reassess the maternity leave restrictions in the company’s main portfolio later on in the week because rest-time was fabulous and she wanted to make sure every woman in her employ felt as comfortable as she did, sitting at the top of the tower eating jelly-donuts.

She may have felt like a beached whale, but she was a very comfortable – and apparently very beautiful, according to Tony – beached whale.

She had a whole jelly donut rolling around in her mouth as she chewed, when she heard the elevator behind her. Thinking it was just Tony, she ignored it in favour of her movie and figured, when he was ready he’d either show himself or he’d disappear again with whatever he’d come for. She was surprised though, when Thor appeared beside her and tentatively took a seat, looking at her. She stared at him, her mouth full of donut and her eyes wide, wondering what he was doing there and wondering how ridiculous she must look.

“Miss Pepper, I’m sorry to disturb you,” He glanced around. “Should I have come at another time?”

Pepper did her best to finish off her donut with as much grace as possible, chomping on it and trying to sit up straighter, all at the same time. Finally, she could swallow it away and smile reassuringly. Even if her movement into a sitting position lacked a bit more grace than she’d have liked; but a belly at over eight months of pregnancy eliminated any concept of grace, completely.

“No, Thor, it’s fine, really.” She coughed a little on some icing-sugar that she’d breathed in, in her haste and Thor patted her on the back.

She thanked him with her eyes before placing the offending donuts to the side and smiling sweetly at him. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

Thor grinned. “Miss Jane informed me that it is customary on this world to give gifts upon the expectant birth of a child.” Pepper’s eyes lit up when she noticed the small bundle in his hands. “That is our custom also, but I was unsure if the similar custom extended to similar gifts.”

“Oh Thor, you didn’t have to-” He held the small bundle of wrapped leather out to her and Pepper was rather speechless for a moment.

“I believe though, that you will appreciate this, Miss Pepper.” She took the bundle from him, and unwrapped the leather slowly to reveal a small pendant. “It belonged to Heimdall, he is a friend; the protector of Asgard. I thought that perhaps, you could hang it above you child as she rests, as a symbol of protection.”

“Oh Thor,” Pepper smiled, running her finger over the intricate Norse carving. “It’s very beautiful; you really didn’t have to do this; won’t your friend miss it?”

“Heimdall sees all, he even knows who you are, Miss Pepper and he knows what Stark has done for this world. He has given this to me for your child. It is a symbol that as he watches over Asgard, he also watches over you and all the heroes of this world.”

A tear escaped her eye and Pepper knew that she was going to burst into tears if she didn’t pull herself together. In Thor’s eyes, it was a simple gesture, but to her it was overwhelming. Be it the hormones or not, she was beside herself. “I can’t thank you enough, Thor, it’s wonderful. And please, thank your friend for me?”

“I have planned to take Miss Jane to Asgard to meet my mother within the fortnight; I shall pass on your message then.”

“Thank you.” She held the pendant to her chest. “Thank you so much.”

**

 

It was movie night and the Avengers team had somehow found their own way of being borderline domestic. Well, as far as a band of super-heroes with trust issues, could get to being domestic, really. And Pepper was actually rather surprised with the comfort they each seemed to show, lounging around the living room of Tony’s penthouse.

Thor was sitting with his feet on the coffee table between Bruce and Steve, who were arguing about a movie reference he didn’t understand. Steve was attempting to prove he understood said reference, claiming he’d seen the movie since being defrosted but Bruce’s argument was that – yes, he may have seen the movie, but he didn’t have the lifetime of deeply engrained pop-culture required to fully comprehend every aspect of the plot. To which Thor crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the television he couldn’t hear over the bickering, with a deep frown.

Clint and Natasha were sitting cross-legged on the sofa with a large bowl of grapes rested on a cushion between them; each of them taking turns to toss a grape and see if the other could catch it. Every grape that missed Clint’s mouth shot across the room to where Tony was lounging next to Pepper on the sofa. He’d scoop up the grape and take great delight in trying to balance them on her rounded belly; seeing how long it would take for the baby to kick it off. Each time the baby did kick it, Pepper found herself giggling and patting the side of his face, and she assured him that if he wanted her to be a football player, he was more than welcome to enrol her in a little-league; to which Tony proudly stated that their daughter could be anything she wanted to be, even Iron Man when he retired. But that earned him a stern expression and a short but sincere shake of the head from Pepper. 

He cleared his throat, looked away and bet Clint he couldn’t get a grape in either Steve or Bruce’s mouths, as they argued.

“Tony,” Pepper breathed, pushing at his chest and trying to sit up.

“What?”

Pepper’s brow creased in pain as she pitched forward as far as she could, over her belly. Tony’s mind flicked into overdrive as he grabbed her arm, holding her close to him as she hissed through her teeth. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at Pepper reaching for her lower back and breathing deeply.

“I have a really sharp pain in my back; I think it might be...”

Tony nodded, clambering up from the sofa, waving at Natasha for a disproportionate amount of time before, in his flurry, he finally remembered her name. “Tasha, go pack Pepper a bag, Clint-” The man hopped up from the sofa. “Hit the down button on the elevator,” he started pacing in front of Pepper, watching her with one eye as he took note of the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who wordlessly followed his instructions. “Thor, pick her up. We’re going to the hospital.”

“Tony, I can walk.” Pepper laughed through another hiss of pain but Tony waved his hand at her. 

“Nope, Thor’s got it covered, haven’t you buddy? Won’t let anything happen to her will you?” he looked back down at Pepper. “Won’t drop you or he’ll never set foot on this planet again.”

“Tony,” Pepper admonished, understanding Tony’s panic better than the others. “It’s alright.”

“Hey, Pep, not many people can say they were carried to hospital by the God of Thunder, just roll with it okay.”

She reached for his hand, pulling him down beside her as they heard the ding for the elevator behind them and Natasha’s footsteps jogging back out of the bedroom with Pepper’s bag. Pepper reached up and pressed her palm to Tony’s cheek, wordlessly soothing him as she smiled, trying to calm his nerves. “It’ll be fine.”

Tony glanced at each of his team members in turn, all of them in varying states of readiness to flee the apartment and all of them ready to accompany Pepper to the hospital; because even if he did get on their nerves from time to time, they adored Pepper.

“Okay,” He breathed out, trying to calm his nerves with deep breaths. “But Thor’s still carrying you to the car.”

Pepper took the compromise, mostly because if she decided to take that moment to argue with Tony’s weird and wonderful whims, she was going to end up having Bruce deliver her baby on the floor of the penthouse and she really didn’t want that.

**Author's Note:**

> For reference: I've gone down this route with Bruce because of the scene in "The Avengers" when Natasha goes to meet with Bruce in the shanty-town. She says that he's gone almost a year without incident and she doesn't believe he'll want to break that streak. Bruce's response _"I don't, every time, get what I want."_ is coupled with Bruce gently rocking a crib. This is very deliberate on the part of both Mark and Joss and I wanted to express Bruce's despair and loneliness in some form, and have Tony pick up on it, as he did many of Bruce's other qualities.


End file.
